It alleged a huge loss of trust between advertisers and their
agencies and, as the
ANA noted on Monday, suggested that agencies "can no longer
deny that the 'rebate issue' exists in the United States." In the
US, the biggest players in the business have denied for years
that they take rebates in the region (rebates are common business
practice in markets such as China, Europe, and Brazil).

Speaking to Business Insider over the phone shortly after the
guidelines' publication, Ebiqutiy group CEO Michael Karg said he
believed the US advertising industry is at a "turning point" and
that the investigation and recommendations had helped build a
foundation to help marketers cope with the increasing
"complexity" of the media-buying market - particularly as digital
advertising rises in popularity.

As the Ebiquity report concludes: "The future is now; the time is
right; the parties need to overcome their differences to ensure
that a better more trusting environment can emerge and be
ingrained in the core client/agency relationship."

Ebiquity addresses the criticism from the agency community over
the report

The world's biggest advertising firm
WPP has been particularly vocal in its criticism of the report,
with its
CEO Sir Martin Sorrell suggesting the study was "in no way
independent" as he believed it included little input from the
six major holding companies. He also disagreed with the selection
process for the firms to carry out the probe because
representatives from Ebiquity were among the selection panel that
chose K2, which employs former FBI agents, to carry out the
investigation.

Karg said the selection process was defined by the ANA and that
Ebiquity was not party to any of the interviews K2 undertook as
part of its investigation, ensuring the study was independent.

"I am a bit confused by the argument. From my perspective, the
ANA had to select someone knowledgeable about the industry and
its processes," Karg said.

That said, Ebiquity and K2 also stand to make hay from their
reports' publication.
As Business Insider first reported last month, JPMorgan Chase
has hired both Ebiquity's Firm Decisions and K2 to carry out an
audit into its media agency ZenithOptimedia as a direct response
to the ANA's report.

When companies appoint auditors to look at their media agency
relationships, they are looking for reassurance that they are
getting what they paid for when it comes to their advertising
spend and that the agency has been compliant with the contract.
Sometimes, audits result in overpayments being returned to the
company, or contracts being renegotiated.

Ebiquity's recommendations also includes a whole section on audit
rights, saying advertisers should "have robust and far-reaching
audit rights which allow them to fully track contract compliance
and measure media value delivery."

But Karg said the aim of participating in the investigation was
not that it would lead to more audits.

"This is about get advertisers to the point in which they can
make informed decisions about [accountability within media
trading] to help them stay more competitive," he said.

He points out that the recommendations do not just include ways
in which marketers can impose harder terms on their agencies, but
also ways in which marketers need to make improvements.

The recommendations suggest, for example, that marketers need to
ensure they are fully-trained on media management, with digital
an immediate priority.

It also suggests that companies need to do a better job of
increasing their own accountability, with one of the
recommendations saying big firms should appoint a "chief media
officer" to oversee all global media strategy, agency
partnerships, and work with third-party suppliers.

And another suggestion is that contracts should be revisited much
more regularly to ensure any areas of non-transparency don't slip
through the net.